Abstract

Assistive technology developed for blind and partially sighted people can find wider
application in the museum workplace. Ease of operation, combined with high lev-
els of potential magnification and object sympathetic light sources add to the utility
of desktop video magnifiers. As well as assisting in day to day paper-based office
tasks, the magnifier finds application in various archival tasks and collections-based
work. This equipment enhances the visitor experience of looking at archival mate-
rial, both for the visually impaired and the general visitor. In particular, it helps with
the study of smaller documents and photographs. It also assists in the examination
of old handwriting, and in particular hand written ink script which has begun to fade
with time.